What is the Purpose of Criminal Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is the Purpose of Criminal Laws - Essay Example he adverse mention of public order, it literally means the wellbeing of the society and interference in its normal functioning by causing chaos or violating rights and privileges of others. In this light, criminal law serves to provide for the protection of the rights of the public by banning certain events and creating guidelines for the punishment. Such events include banning of processions in a bid to protect public interests. This is particularly so for protests that are likely to end up in disorder and public unrest. The above condition puts the authorities in a position to exercise their power to preserve public peace by implementing criminal law, banning the said events (Home Office, n.d.). In protecting public order, criminal law covers sex-related crimes and substance related crimes. This division marks the different crimes that affect members of the public and the society. Of these include prostitution, deviant sex, alcoholism, liquor law violation, pornography and driving under the influence among others (Bundy, 2011). The crimes are labelled so in spite of lack of physical aggression, but due to the dehumanizing nature in them and lowered quality of life associated with them. The other role of criminal law is to deter the occurrence of crime and preventing individuals from engaging in any activities deemed to irresponsible by the society (Bundy, 2011). Criminal law deters criminal behaviour through the sanctions put in place by the laws in regard to their enforcement and other means. This is evident by the use of police statistics showing by how much the crime rates go down after the implementation of effective capture methods (Robinson $ Darley, 2004). In addition, for criminal law to work as a deterrent, there are three factors to be considered. These are the knowledge of the consequences of committing a crime, the influence of the knowledge on the choices the individual makes and the likelihood to weigh the consequences logically (Robinson $